


if you fall, i will catch you

by honeyspider



Category: Shazam! (2019)
Genre: Gen, M/M, they're DUMB and IN LOVE but they don't know it!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 06:40:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18424968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeyspider/pseuds/honeyspider
Summary: The family goes roller skating for Darla's birthday.





	if you fall, i will catch you

**Author's Note:**

> this is SO cheesy & i'm not as proud of it as i'd like to be, but maybe i'm just still sad that i'm done writing my fluffy little kissing fic, lol.

“Darla, sweetie,” Rosa says one morning over breakfast, “What do you want to do for your birthday?”

It’s obvious by how quickly Darla answers that she has already thought it out and decided how she wants to celebrate.

“Roller skating!”

Mary and Eugene nod excitedly, pleased with Darla’s idea. Rosa smiles somewhat apprehensively, glancing over at Freddy from across the table.

“I’m not sure everyone would be able to do that, honey. Maybe we can think of something else?”

Realization dawns on Darla’s face as she looks over at Freddy and his crutch that’s leaning against the table. She looks like she feels bad for suggesting something that Freddy wouldn’t be able to participate in.

“No!” Freddy exclaimed. “We can go to the skating place. They have an arcade, so I’ll be fine. And it’ll be fun watching you guys fall on your faces.”

“Are you sure?” Darla asks him.

He smiles at her. “Of course.” 

* * *

When Darla’s birthday arrives, the family loads up into the van and drives to the roller skating rink. Darla is sporting a brand new purple dress and a sparkly plastic tiara. She gets her skates on quickly and races Eugene to see which of them can get onto the rink first.

One by one, the others lace up their skates and head out, too. The only ones still at the table were Billy and Freddy. Billy still had his regular shoes on.

“Hey, man, you don’t have to stay here with me,” Freddy says.

Billy nods. “I know. But I want to. I’ll skate later.”

For a little while, they just watch the others. Victor skates fast around the rink, holding one of Darla’s hands and pulling her around with him as she squeals in delight. Rosa and Mary help Pedro, who is having a hard time getting the hang of it. Eugene shows off by smugly skating circles around Pedro.

“Wanna play some games?” asks Freddy, gesturing over to the small arcade.

“Yeah. I bet I can kick your ass at skee ball.”

“Oh, you’re on!”

They cash in a couple of dollars for tokens and stand side by side at the ends of the skee ball ramps. They put tokens in and count down from three before slamming their hands on the start buttons at the same time. Billy’s arm swings around rapidly as he throws the balls up the lane, running out in just a few seconds. He looks over to see that Freddy takes a different approach to the game, taking his time lining up the angles of his throws before letting them go.

Freddy is concentrating hard, his tongue sticking out a little between his teeth. Billy watches him sink balls into 100 ring and knows that he’s already lost. When Freddy is done, he looks at his score and grins.

“You know what they say, slow and steady wins the race.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Billy says, rolling his eyes. “Let’s play Need For Speed.”

They raced against each other, Billy cheering when his car just barely passed the finish line before Freddy’s. Billy found a pinball machine after that and Freddy went over to a claw machine.

Freddy cursed under his breath as the item he was playing for slipped out of the claw’s grasp at the very last second before it would have gone down the chute. Reaching into his pocket, he found that he had just enough tokens to try one more time. He put them in and positioned the claw, checking from several angles to make sure it was exactly where he wanted it before pushing the button. The claw dropped down, tightened around the prize, and lifted back up. Freddy held his breath as he watched it slide over to the corner, not releasing it until the claw opened over the chute and his prize dropped down for him to retrieve.

Billy was focusing hard on his pinball game, but noticed when Freddy appeared in the reflection on the glass as he walked up behind him. When he finally finished, he was proud of score and spun around with a hand held up to give Freddy a high-five, but Freddy had his right hand, the one not holding his crutch, hidden behind his back.

“Here,” Freddy said simply, holding his arm out in front of him.

Billy looked down at the small stuffed animal in his friend’s hand.

Orange. Black stripes. Fluffy white mane.

“A tiger,” he said softly, as if in disbelief.

“Yeah. They’re your favorite, right?”

Billy nodded as he took the toy from Freddy, running his fingers through the soft fur. He felt a lump rise in his throat and tried to swallow it back down.

Before he could say anything, Victor called out, “Boys! The pizza is ready!”

They walked out of the arcade and over to the table where the rest of the family was. 

* * *

After they eat and Darla opens her presents, Billy goes over to the rental desk to get a pair of skates. He comes back with two, setting one pair down in front of Freddy, who looks very confused.

“Billy, I can’t -”

“I’ll help you,” Billy tells him.

Freddy is still hesitant as he replaces his sneakers with the skates and ties them. Billy stands in front of him and grabs his hands to help pull him up. Freddy’s legs wobble atop the wheels.

“I-I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t wanna fall.”

“I won’t let you.”

Freddy meets Billy’s eyes and his apprehension drifts away. He trusts Billy, knows that Billy wouldn’t let anything happen to him.

“Okay,” he says. “Let’s go.”

He held on to Billy’s arm as they faced the challenge that was getting across the carpet in their skates. When they reached the rink, Freddy grabbed the short wall that surrounded it like it was a lifeline. Billy came up next to him and held out his hands.

“Come on, Freddy. I’ve got you.”

To Freddy, taking his hands off the wall for the second it would take him to grab Billy’s hands feels akin to jumping out of an airplane. So, he does it one at a time.

Billy’s hands are warm as they grab his. Freddy suddenly notes that his own hands are damp with sweat and he immediately wants to pull them away to dry them on his pants, but Billy has already started moving them away from the safety of the wall.

Billy skates slowly, facing Freddy as he pulls him along. Freddy is surprised by his friend’s ability to roller skate backwards.

“How do you know how to skate like that?”

Billy shrugged. “I knew another foster kid who had a pair of roller skates I used to borrow.”

“Yeah, sure. _Borrow_ ,” Freddy says as he gives Billy a knowing look.

“Okay, maybe I didn’t ask first before I used them, but I always put them back!”

The rest of the family skates by them, cheering Freddy on encouragingly.

They go around a few times like that, Billy leading them while skating backwards, holding onto Freddy’s hands as he pulls him. Then Billy’s legs start to get a little tired, so he pulls them back over to the wall.

“Let’s try something,” he says. “Put your arm around me.”

“W-what?”

Billy stands on Freddy’s left side, putting his bad leg in between them, and wraps his arm around Freddy to hook under his shoulders.

“Put your arm around me,” Billy repeats.

Freddy does.

“You’re going to move your legs like this, okay?” Billy shows him. “Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.”

“I know,” Freddy tells him and copies what Billy showed him how to do.

They push off from the wall, fumbling for a moment as they try to start moving their legs in sync. They’re only just starting to get into the swing of it when the lights over the rink go down and a disco ball starts spinning. The opening of a familiar song begins to play and the DJ gets on the microphone.

“Alright, folks, this is the couples’ skate!”

Eugene and Pedro make sounds of disgust and roll off the rink to go back to the table. Rosa and Victor smile and hold hands as they leisurely skate to the song. Mary stays to skate with Darla, who doesn’t care that it’s a couple’s song and wants to be under the disco ball.

“Oh, uh, I guess we should go…” Billy says awkwardly and starts steering them towards the door.

“Are you kidding?” Freddy exclaims. “Dude, I’m _skating_! I don’t want to stop yet!”

He was so excited, not seeming to mind the implications of them skating with their arms around each other during this song, that Billy can’t say no. Besides, Mary and Darla were skating together. Maybe it wouldn’t look so weird after all.

_if you’re lost, you can look and you will find me, time after time_

_if you fall, i will catch you, i will be waiting, time after time_

A pair of girls skates by them holding hands, gesturing at them and saying something to each other in a cooing voice as if Billy and Freddy are the cutest thing they’ve ever seen. Billy feels heat rise into his cheeks and hopes that it’s dark enough that no one can see.

When the song ends and the lights come back up, Rosa and Victor announce to the kids that it’s time to go home.

“One more song?” Freddy asks, putting on a pout that he knows Rosa could never say no to.

Sure enough, she sighs. “Okay. _One_ more.”

From the corner of his eye, Billy is blinded by Freddy’s beaming smile.

All of a sudden, they’re knocked off balance by an over-enthusiastic child who is skating like a maniac and bumps into Freddy. His legs flounder and he starts to go down and Billy realizes he can’t keep them up, so he lets himself hit the ground first to break Freddy’s fall.

Freddy lands on him with an _oof!_

“Shit, Freddy, are you okay?” Billy asks, freaking out.

“I’m fine.”

Freddy uses his arms to lift his upper half off of Billy’s chest.

“I’m so sorry! I told you you wouldn’t fall and -”

“Billy,” Freddy says firmly. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”

Someone clears their throat above them. They look up to see Mary standing over them with a very amused look on her face. It’s only then they realize that they’re laying on each other in front of everyone at the skating rink.

“You guys need some help?” she asks.

They nod.

Mary helps Freddy back up to his feet so that Billy can get off of the floor. Mary and Billy then help Freddy back to the table, where they all unlace their skates to return them.

“What’s this?” Eugene suddenly asks, picking up a stuffed tiger that he found on one of the chairs.

“Oh, uh, that’s mine,” Billy responds. “Freddy won it at the arcade.”

He suddenly feels a bit embarrassed. Maybe he should have kept that last part to himself.

“Really, Freddy?” Mary asks. “You got _Billy_ a toy on _Darla’s_ birthday?”

She crosses her arms over her chest, but she has that look on her face again. The same one she had when she went to go help them up before, like someone said a funny joke but she’s the only one who gets it.

Freddy makes a few incomprehensible sounds before finally being able to put a sentence together. “It-it’s not like I didn’t get Darla anything! I-I-”

“Mary, stop making Freddy have a freak out,” Darla says, coming to her big brother’s defense. “I think it’s nice that he gave Billy his prize.”

She snatched the tiger out of Eugene’s hand and passed it over to Billy, who mumbled a thank you to her. They all manage to get outside and into the car without mentioning the tiger again.

The ride back to the house is unusually quiet, the kids all pretty worn out from a night of skating around. In the middle row, Mary scrolls through her phone while Darla and Eugene sleep softly, one resting against each shoulder. Rosa and Victor have the radio turned on so low that Billy and Freddy can scarcely hear it from where they sit all the way in the back with Pedro, who has his hoodie balled up against the window as pillow.

Billy has his tiger in his lap, absentmindedly petting its fur as he watches the streetlights go by. From the other side of Freddy, Pedro lets out a snore, causing Billy to break the intense gaze he’s been staring out the window with to glance over at the boy.

Instead, he’s met with Freddy looking at him in a way that makes his stomach feel funny. Freddy quickly averts his eyes down into his own lap.

“Hey,” Billy whispers and even in the dim lighting provided from outside the car he sees Freddy visibly swallow before looking up at him again. “Thank you. I forgot to say that earlier.”

Freddy smiles. That funny feeling takes hold of Billy’s stomach again.

“Thanks for teaching me how to skate. And for catching me when I fall.”

“Anytime.”

**Author's Note:**

> imagine: me, listening to time after time on repeat & slowly having a breakdown


End file.
